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Ingrid Gustafson
2018 - Present
2030
7
Ingrid Gayle Gustafson is a judge of the Montana Supreme Court. She assumed office on January 1, 2018. Her current term ends on December 31, 2030.
Gustafson ran for re-election for judge of the Montana Supreme Court. She won in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Gustafson first became a member of the court through gubernatorial appointment. She was appointed to succeed Justice Mike Wheat on the Montana Supreme Court by Governor Steve Bullock (D) on December 14, 2017. To read more about judicial selection in Montana, click here.
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[1] Gustafson received a confidence score of Indeterminate.[2] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Gustafson earned her B.S. in business from Montana State University and her J.D. from the University of Montana School of Law in 1988.[3][4] She worked in private practice in Billings until her appointment to the Thirteenth Judicial District in 2004.[4] She is a member of the Montana State University Athletic Hall of Fame and an NCAA All-American.[5]
Elections
2022
See also: Montana Supreme Court elections, 2022
General election
General election for Montana Supreme Court
Incumbent Ingrid Gayle Gustafson defeated James Brown in the general election for Montana Supreme Court on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Ingrid Gayle Gustafson (Nonpartisan) | 54.3 | 239,219 |
 | James Brown (Nonpartisan) | 45.7 | 201,159 | |
| Total votes: 440,378 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Montana Supreme Court
Incumbent Ingrid Gayle Gustafson and James Brown defeated Mike McMahon in the primary for Montana Supreme Court on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ingrid Gayle Gustafson (Nonpartisan) | 48.1 | 126,423 |
| ✔ | | James Brown (Nonpartisan) | 36.4 | 95,607 |
 | Mike McMahon (Nonpartisan) | 15.5 | 40,872 | |
| Total votes: 262,902 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2018
- See also: Montana Supreme Court elections, 2018
General election
General election for Montana Supreme Court
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ingrid Gayle Gustafson (Nonpartisan) | 83.7 | 365,795 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 16.3 | 71,451 | ||
| Total votes: 437,246 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Selection method
- See also: Nonpartisan elections
The seven justices of the Montana Supreme Court are selected in nonpartisan elections to eight-year terms. When their term expires, they must run for re-election (or retention if they are unopposed) if they wish to continue serving.[6] In the event of a midterm vacancy, the governor is responsible for appointing a new judge from a list compiled by the Montana Judicial Nominating Commission. Once confirmed by the Montana Senate, the judge holds office until the next general election, when he or she will be able to run for re-election to complete the remainder of the unexpired term.[6][7]
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:
- a U.S. citizen;
- a state resident for at least two years; and
- licensed to practice law in the state for at least five years.[6]
Selection of the chief justice
The court's chief justice is chosen by popular vote during the regular campaign cycle. He or she serves in that capacity for a full eight-year term.[6]
2012
- See also: Montana judicial elections, 2012
Gustafson was retained to the Montana 13th Judicial District Court with 81.73 percent of the vote on November 6, 2012.[8]
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Ingrid Gayle Gustafson did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[9]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[10]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Ingrid Gayle
Gustafson
Montana
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Indeterminate - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Appointed by a Democratic governor
Partisan Profile
Details:
She was appointed by Gov. Governor Steve Bullock (D).
Noteworthy cases
Noteworthy cases may be selected due to their impact on legal precedent, substantial media attention, or overlaps with another area of editorial interest at Ballotpedia. To suggest cases we should cover here, email us.
State supreme court judicial selection in Montana
- See also: Judicial selection in Montana
The seven justices on the Montana Supreme Court are selected through nonpartisan elections to eight-year terms. When their terms expire, justices must run for re-election if they wish to remain on the court. If unopposed, a justice must stand for a yes-no retention election.[11][12]
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:
- a U.S. citizen;
- a state resident for at least two years; and
- licensed to practice law in the state for at least five years.[11]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the court is selected through a nonpartisan election to an eight-year term.[11]
Vacancies
In the event of a midterm vacancy, the governor is responsible for appointing a new justice to the court. Once confirmed by the Montana state Senate, the justice will hold office until the next regular election. At that time, the appointed justice will be able to run for re-election or retention to complete the remainder of the unexpired term.[12]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
2022 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Montana Supreme Court |
Officeholder Montana Supreme Court |
Footnotes
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ Martindale.com, "Judge Profile: Ingrid Gayle Gustafson," accessed August 4, 2021
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Montana Trial Lawyers Association, "Billings Judge Biographies," accessed August 4, 2021
- ↑ Montana Supreme Court, "Justice Biographies," accessed August 4, 2021
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Montana," accessed July 31, 2014
- ↑ Montana Constitution
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "Archived Election Results," accessed August 4, 2021
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection," accessed August 11, 2021
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Montana State Legislature, "The Constitution of the state of Montana," accessed August 11, 2021 (Article VII, part VII, section 8)
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Federal courts:
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Montana • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Montana
State courts:
Montana Supreme Court • Montana District Courts • Montana Courts of Limited Jurisdiction • Montana Water Court • Montana Workers' Compensation Court
State resources:
Courts in Montana • Montana judicial elections • Judicial selection in Montana
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